


Ghosts

by NymphGlamour



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Gen, Original Character(s), Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 04:56:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8651797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NymphGlamour/pseuds/NymphGlamour
Summary: Author is an ENTP, she knows not if this work will ever be finished, but starting it was fun fun fun.





	

Tommy was sitting in the backseat of his parents' car playing with his toy dinosaur when they passed the other car. It looked exactly like the one he got for Christmas, sleek and fast, even the colour matched, a wild cherry red. A real live version, he couldn't help but stare. They were driving over to his grandparents for the weekend after thanksgiving to celebrate. He was still looking at the car when it suddenly swerved right almost colliding with them, his dad stepped on the brakes and leaned on the horn the same time followed by a flurry of swearwords that Tommy would repeat back to his grandma in the coming days for the horror of his parents. The sports car slalomed on the empty highway as if the driver was drunk or crazy until it disappeared in the next curve. 

Caren was not drunk, in fact she felt more alert this morning than ever in her life before. If it weren't for this damn rush hour traffic she could have almost enjoyed the ride home. She just pulled an all-nighter at the research facility and she felt they were finally close to a breakthrough. Her field was a tiny experimental segment in the company that provided modern homes with "a touch of nature - cubed" or at least that is what the commercial said. The containers were a fully automated mini ecosystem that let the owners enjoy having plants without the pain of taking care of them. The one year guarantee even saved the customers from the heartache of having to replace them in case they somehow died. Caren was working on a new type of cube that was aimed for the kitchen containing edible plants. That in itself wouldn't have been special enough to sell so they hired her, a bio-engineer to create plants with unique dietary and medicinal values they can only have if they buy their "CUbee Taste" but so far none of her creations have impressed the board enough to go forward with it. This time however it seemed that her boss was happy about the new mushroom she made. It looked like a spiderweb with morning dew on and fit perfectly in the cube of cocktail greens reflecting the same forest dawn image. The product went through all the tests this time, no hallucinogenic compounds, no poison, growth rate and looks perfect and the amazing taste of bitter chocolate. It could reproduce itself from even a few spores left in the cube. That part was one of the early challenges of this project, to have plants that can be picked off, mutilated and live on, have them grow fast enough to produce the daily need of one person but stop growing if nobody touched them. They almost had an intelligence to them, so many features have been modified. Her colleagues even named the first success they had with a miniature peppermint bush and it was still the only decoration they have been allowed in the tiny dining area they had on their floor. Mojitoes for science was a thing among the senior staff now even though the lime tree was still too big to be included in even the XXL version of Taste. She preferred working with her fungi, the possibilities seemed endless there and apart from her intern nobody seemed to understand their beauty. Until now that is.  
Suddenly a truck decided to change lanes coming right in front of her, too close for the brakes to make a difference so she swerved left into the carpool lane almost hitting a dark blue Volvo and stepped on the gas to make sure the poor guy didn't crash into her. What a morning. She switched lanes again after passing the truck and kept overtaking the cars scattered in the three lanes, resigned to the inevitable traffic jam they were heading into as they approached the city leaving just enough space for a daring driver like her to squeeze in. She only has to reach the next exit and she could finally get home and have some rest.

In the first few days she didn't notice much difference, she usually commuted very early or very late - it was all a matter of perspective - and her immediate colleagues were not the most chatty kind. It was on her Saturday run at the park that she was confronted by some weird looks when she petted a dog a girl was walking. There was nothing extraordinary about either the dog or the girl, so why were the joggers staring at her? When she looked around she saw it. People walking around changing their route without even looking up not to collide with others, mothers pushing their strollers onto the grass while talking to each other not paying attention to the boy sitting in the middle of the sidewalk but still avoiding him. What was happening? Her brain instantly switched to analytical mode, going through everything she ate, inhaled or came in contact with, but nothing proved to be hallucinogenic this week and they all tried the edible plants to have a small control group in case something was amiss. She had to ask them. She stood up and turned around when she caught the eyes of someone looking directly at her. They shone like two ambers under the long lashes and he smiled when he saw her looking. He was wearing a simple suit with a bright blue tie that emphasised the colour of his eyes. He approached her, held out a nicely tanned hand and introduced himself. So, he was Thomas. As if she would have believed him, the government always used fake names when they were trying to pry company secrets from them and his looks radiated agent. All research employees were chipped as new-hires so even if they wanted to they couldn't have said anything. He was all smiles as he invited her for a coffee and cake, complimenting her hair and talking about the weather. Caren was getting impatient, what did he really want from her?

**Author's Note:**

> Author is an ENTP, she knows not if this work will ever be finished, but starting it was fun fun fun.


End file.
